In the aftermath of the “flash crash” that rattled the markets worldwide on May 6, the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission said Monday she is looking at whether new restrictions should be placed on traders that use mathematical algorithms.

“There is an issue about use of disruptive algorithms that contribute to volatility and instability and whether they should be programmed with certain throttles in them — meaning mechanisms that change the way they operate given what is happening in the markets,” SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro told reporters after speaking to a gathering of bankers.

The SEC issued a report on Oct. 1 that argues that a massive, algorithm-based automated trade drove the liquidity crisis and created the “flash crash” on May 6. On that day the Dow Jones Industrial Average suddenly dropped nearly 1,000 points before swiftly recovering to end the day with a 348-point loss.

Specifically, the report points to a large fundamental trader that executed a large sell order using an automated execution algorithm at a time in the afternoon while the markets were already very stressed.

Schapiro told reporters that the agency may consider whether to have a requirement that these algorithm-based trades should be programmed with certain ‘throttles’ or mechanisms that would slow-down or otherwise restrict trading in them depending on how the markets are reacting to the transactions on that day.

“By throttle, I mean whether we should have mechanisms that change the way they operate given what is happening, given what reaction the marketplace is having to them or slows them down or doesn’t allow them to try to trade 10% of the shares of stock in 2 seconds,” Schapiro said.

She added that the agency may require designated market makers – typically specialists at the NYSE Euronext’s New York Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq – to make quotes a certain “percentage of the time.” Market makers have an obligation to make fair and orderly markets, yet observers argue that they didn’t fulfill their responsibility on May 6.

The agency on Monday approved rules prohibiting the use of so-called ‘stub quotes’ in equity markets. The SEC requires market makers to have both a bid and offer when they want to publish a quote.